I’m the boss coz I know ArabicBy Maulana Amin Safdar okarvi

There were a total of 6 boys, the professor brought 4 to me. I asked those boys "How much time did you spend studying?"They replied "3 months". I said "when you people went to them, you were empty minded. Whatever the group taught you using the name of Nabi [saw], you guys to agreed to it. This is true isn't it?"They replied "Yes". Now when you people have come to me, you're not empty minded. You guys have been brainwashed with the notion that other people would deviate you from the hadith of Nabi [saw] to the sayings of Imam Abu Hanifa [ra] They agreed to it saying 'yes this is what we were taught'. I told them "it’s only fair now that you should stay with me for 3 months at least. First listen to what I say and then we will do something about your reformation. But I'm not asking for 3 months yet only 3 hours from you in which you do what I tell you to. They agreed to it.I gave them a book called "Hadith and Ahle hadith". I was busy myself, writing something. I asked them to read the ahadith regarding 'not doing rafa yadain' till I complete my work. I oversaw them doing so.They were reading the ahadith and after a short time they would elbow each other saying "mate, they were lying for 3 months claiming the Hanafies don’t have hadith but only the sayings of Abu Hanifa. But here we find so many ahadith. When they finished reading I asked if they had any questions, they said "We just need to know how much this book costs and please buy one for us" (the shaykh laughs)I gave them a copy of the books and they left happily

But the Ghayr Muqalids had already trained him [another person] that when you go to Maulana Amin, do not listen and just speak. That guy came to me and told me "Please do not advise me anything I will ask questions to you". I told him that there are 2 situations. A person goes to a doctor either to get himself treated or treat the doctor. If you came here to treat me I’m ready to get treated and then I will listen.But the right to question would be mine because I am ill. I would tell you that I have such and such illness so please prescribe me a medication for it.And if you have come seeking reformation for yourself then you have to listen to me as well. The person said "tell me which source should we first use to extract a ruling from?" Now I am a doctor and I know where the patient is speaking from (the audience laughs) So I confirmed the question with him.I told him "from Beheshti Zewar" [audience laughs]The person became furious saying "He's a kafir, I’m not going to listen to him". I indicated to my students not to let him go, they made him sit down but he would try to go again. We somehow made him feel relaxed after 5 mins. I said "You became upset, no problem I will apologise. The actual thing with us Hanafies is that we only speak the truth". Then he furiously said "You mean this was the truth?"I told him "yes it was". He stood up again with anger. I told him "if this is not the Haq [truth] for you, tell me what source has the first place. He said "The Qur'an". I said "for the Mujtahid not for you"He said "it's for me as well". So I asked him if he prays. He replied "yes"

I said "one day you sit in Tashahud and you forget to recite At-Tahiyaat, instead you recite Surah Fatiha .. does it happen ?He said "yes sometimes it does"I gave him the Qur'an and asked him, "where is this ruling in the Qur'an?" stating if we recite surah fatiha instead of at At-Tahiyaat, what we should do.So I gave him the Qur'an but he wasn’t touching it. I told him "You were calling me a kafir so I cannot touch it, but since you're not a kafir, so please touch it.You can read the Qur’ans translation for many months but you can’t find this ruling there. You can read the Sihah sitta translations for many years but you can’t find this ruling in there. You will find this ruling in Beheshti Zewar. I had already told you that the first source is Beheshti ZewarI told him "see I am not afraid of you. For example a Christian came and said that he wanted to become a Muslim. I said OK, and we make him a Muslim. His name was Rehmat Maseeh so we changed it to Rehmatullah.Now after he becomes a Muslim .. isn’t salah obligatory on him ?He said "yes for sure"I said "I am not scared of you I would give him Beheshti Zewar or Taleem-ul Islam. In there only 2 main conditions are mentioned regarding salah: The clothes should be pure and the body should be pure. I would give him a book of fiqh. I asked "since how many years you have been praying? He said "8 years". I gave him the Qur'an and asked him to derive the ruling regarding the conditions of salah.I would give the convert a book of fiqh but can you please derive this ruling from the Qur'an? He said "I cannot". I asked him "Then why did you say the Qur’an is the first source?"He said "I would ask a Scholar" I said that Beheshti Zewar is also written by a Scholar. So the point came back to a Scholar isnt it?A modern age scholar would also quote Imam Abu Hanifa's rulingsThe thing is, people love proclaiming such things. I was giving a lecture once, a person came up to me and said "I have an M.A in Arabic and M.A in Islamic studies. Do I also need to do Taqleed?" I told him "Yes, a great deal… even more than the average person".The person asked "Why, I know Arabic?" I asked "Do you know more Arabic than Abu Jahl ? i said "Just knowing Arabic is not enough". I asked him "Where did Nabi [saw] send Hazrat Mu’az [ra].Did the people speak a rare language?He said "No they also spoke Arabic". I said "Nabi [saw] didn’t say to teach them Qur’an and hadith and let them do Ijtehad"No, not at all, all of their languages was Arabic .. but the Mujtahid was Hazrat Mu’az [ra] And all those Arabic speakers were doing his Taqleed.But the person argued saying whatever ruling is closest to the Sunnah should be implemented whether it’s the ruling of Imam Shafi or Imam Abu HanifaI told him "you have a lot of courage stating that, but you do know I am a primary school teacher. If a primary school teacher feels that a student is weak, he tells the student to read from wherever he knows. But for you what I should do is give you 10 rulings regarding law, 10 regarding inheritance, 10 regarding salaah, 10 regarding zakat and 10 regarding hajj and ask you to explain the madhab of the 4 imams, then ask you to provide the proofs of the 4 imams regarding the ruling and then give me an explanation why one of them would be preferable so that I could see why that opinion is much more preferable to you that it wasn’t to Imam Abu Hanifa or Imam Shafi. Considering you a weak student I ask you to tell me one ruling which you have

researched in your whole life. Give the madhab of the 4 imams, their proofs and then tell me your choice and opinion out of them. What was the reason of the Tarjeeh? He started to look here and there and told me he can't do this. I told him "if someone can do this then send him to me as this is real courage"You being an MA in Arabic that 'Allah forbid' all the 4 imams stand in front of you as criminals and you are the judge … sometimes you scold Imam Hanifa that your such and such ruling is incorrect... Sometimes you scold Imam Shafi … But you yourself don’t even know a single ruling.People try to do ijtehad but if a bird without wings tries to fly then what will happen to that bird? You know what the children would do to that bird [in Asian countries] because it cannot fly? Either that or the cat would eat it up. Similarly those who want to be mujtahids 'without wings', they either become hadith rejecters or something similar.

Translated by the Hanafi fiqh channel.http://www.youtube.com/user/hanafifiqh